The paper, co-authored by researchers from Inovio and
collaborators from University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine,
notes that co-delivery of Inovio's immunoadjuvant, a DNA plasmid
encoding interleukin (IL)-28B, with an Inovio optimized
SynCon™ DNA vaccine using its proprietary electroporation
(EP) technology significantly enhanced antigen-specific killer T
cell responses in rhesus monkeys.

Dr. J. Joseph Kim, Inovio's president and CEO, said:
“Inovio's goal is to revolutionalize the way new vaccine
blockbusters are developed utilizing our DNA vaccine development
platform, comprised of our SynCon™ optimized DNA vaccine
constructs, novel formulations, electroporation delivery systems,
and DNA manufacturing processes. In addition, Inovio has been
developing novel gene immunoadjuvants able to safely and
efficiently improve immune responses generated by DNA vaccines.
Inovio's IL-28B has demonstrated these characteristics in non-human
primates, the closest animal model for humans in terms of testing
vaccines' immunological effects. The gene immunoadjuvant program
complements our existing technology and will further enhance our
dominant position in the field of optimized DNA
vaccines.”

An adjuvant is a pharmacological or immunological agent that
improves the effect of a vaccine while having few if any direct
effects when administered alone. They are often included in
vaccines to enhance immune responses and/or reduce the amount of
vaccine required and keep the injected foreign material at a
minimum. Conventional adjuvants are composed of chemicals like
aluminum and lipids (fatty acids), which often are not naturally
found in the body. In contrast, a gene immunoadjuvant is a DNA
plasmid encoded with the genetic blueprint of an important,
naturally occurring immune molecule such as IL-28B. When this DNA
plasmid is co-delivered with a DNA vaccine, both the vaccine and,
in this case, IL-28B proteins are produced by the same cell. The
presence of an immunoadjuvant such as IL-28B may enhance the
attraction of particularly important immune cells such as dendritic
cells or killer T cells. Generation of CD8+ killer T cells are
considered instrumental in clearing cancerous or infected cells
from the body and imperative to achieving sufficient potency of new
vaccines against cancers and chronic infectious diseases such as
HIV and hepatitis C.

Inovio has already demonstrated superior advantages in the
magnitude and breadth of killer T cell immune responses induced in
non-human primates by one of its optimized SynCon™ DNA
vaccines delivered using its proprietary electroporation
technology, without the use of an immunoadjuvant. The study
results, recently
published in Molecular Therapy, compared Inovio's
platform with Merck's adenovirus serotype 5 (Ad5) vaccine,
considered to be the most immunogenic among viral vectors. Inovio
has also reported from its phase I clinical study of a
SynCon™ DNA vaccine against HPV/cervical cancer the
achievement of T cell response levels thought sufficient to provide
therapeutic benefit.

The purpose of the IL-28B study was to assess the incremental
benefit of a gene immunoadjuvant added to a DNA-based vaccine. This
was the first study of IL-28B in non-human primates. The study
compared an antigen alone, antigen delivered in combination with an
IL-12 immunoadjuvant, and antigen delivered in combination with
IL-28B. The antigen/IL-28B combination achieved the most
significant and long-lived responses in generating CD8+ T cells.
The level of T cell immune enhancement was significantly greater
than for IL-12, a previously tested potent immunoadjuvant. The
potent T cell immunoadjuvanting effects of IL-28B were first
identified in small animals by scientists at the University of
Pennsylvania. The university filed patent applications covering its
IL-28B product and its use as an immunoadjuvant, and licensed
exclusive worldwide rights to these patents to Inovio. Inovio also
has IL-15, RANTES, and other gene immunoadjuvants in its
pipeline.

This study was funded in part by grants and contracts from the
Division of AIDS, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases (NIAID) to Inovio and University of Pennsylvania. Inovio
is further testing IL-28B as an immunoadjuvant in its efforts to
develop a globally-targeted HIV vaccine candidate,
PENNVAX™-GP, via a multi-year $23.5 million NIAID HIV Vaccine
Design and Development (HVDDT) contract and in a novel malaria
vaccine development program funded by the Malaria Vaccine
Initiative/PATH.

About Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Inovio is developing a new generation of vaccines, called DNA
vaccines, to treat and prevent cancers and infectious diseases. The
company's SynCon™ “universal” vaccines are
designed to provide broad cross-strain protection against known as
well as newly emergent strains of pathogens such as influenza. When
delivered with Inovio's proprietary electroporation delivery
devices the vaccines have been shown to be safe and to generate
significant immune responses. Inovio's clinical programs include
HPV/cervical cancer (therapeutic), avian flu, and HIV vaccines
(both preventive and therapeutic). Inovio is developing its
universal influenza vaccines in collaboration with scientists from
the University of Pennsylvania and National Microbiology Laboratory
of the Public Health Agency of Canada. Other partners and
collaborators include Merck, ChronTech, University of Southampton,
National Cancer Institute, HIV Vaccines Trial Network, and Malaria
Vaccine Initiative/PATH. More information is available at
www.inovio.com.

This press release contains certain forward-looking
statements relating to our business, including our plans to develop
electroporation-based drug and gene delivery technologies and DNA
vaccines and our capital resources. Actual events or results may
differ from the expectations set forth herein as a result of a
number of factors, including uncertainties inherent in pre-clinical
studies, clinical trials and product development programs
(including, but not limited to, the fact that pre-clinical and
clinical results referenced in this release may not be indicative
of results achievable in other trials or for other indications,
that results from one study may not necessarily be reflected or
supported by the results of other similar studies and that results
from an animal study may not be indicative of results achievable in
human studies), the availability of funding to support continuing
research and studies in an effort to prove safety and efficacy of
electroporation technology as a delivery mechanism or develop
viable DNA vaccines, the adequacy of our capital resources, the
availability or potential availability of alternative therapies or
treatments for the conditions targeted by the company or its
collaborators, including alternatives that may be more efficacious
or cost-effective than any therapy or treatment that the company
and its collaborators hope to develop, evaluation of potential
opportunities, issues involving patents and whether they or
licenses to them will provide the company with meaningful
protection from others using the covered technologies, whether such
proprietary rights are enforceable or defensible or infringe or
allegedly infringe on rights of others or can withstand claims of
invalidity and whether the company can finance or devote other
significant resources that may be necessary to prosecute, protect
or defend them, the level of corporate expenditures, assessments of
the company's technology by potential corporate or other partners
or collaborators, capital market conditions, our ability to
successfully integrate Inovio and VGX Pharmaceuticals, the impact
of government healthcare proposals and other factors set forth in
our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2009, our Form 10-Q for the three months ended
March 31, 2010, and other regulatory filings from time to time.
There can be no assurance that any product in Inovio's pipeline
will be successfully developed or manufactured, that final results
of clinical studies will be supportive of regulatory approvals
required to market licensed products, or that any of the
forward-looking information provided herein will be proven
accurate.

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